Variety (Aug 1942)

BUSCELLAMY Wednesdaj, August 5, 1942 Stage Door Canteen s $3,000 Puts Price of Screen Guild Under Frown Walter Johnson, representing the Music Corp. of America, is due to leave New York this week for Holly- wood to report no progress in efforts to line up a new sponsor for the Screen Guild radio program, long bankrolled by Good Gulf Gasoline. Johnson was asking $15,000 when he came, east, but the figure was dropped to $12,000 weekly and later to $10,000. The latter was rock bot- tom and no takers. Apparently Johnson encountered a quick freeze of several promising possibilities when stories broke that the Stage Door Canteen in New York ■ had contracted with Corn Products for $3,000 to the" American Theatre ■Wing, plus talent fees at reduced figures, the total figuring out on the tablecloth bieing considerably under the Screen Guild. Poor Health Forces Caiicellatioii of Rinso By Edna May Oliver Hollywood, Aug. 4. Edna May. Oliver has definitely withdrawn from the Lever Bros. • (RiDso)' program. This Remarkable Miss Tuttle," due to illness. Her con- tract was mutually terminated With RuthrauS jc Ryan agency. For the past three Sundays Mary Boland has Bubstjtuted for her on the NBC show. Don StaiiiTer, radio head of R & R, left last weekend for Cambridge, Mass., to confer with Lever Bros, execs on another show. He'll recom- mend either Miss Boland to continue with. Tuttle* or a fresh start with Iiionel Barrymorc in a dramatic series, "Mayor of the Town.' £fa TangDay at 64 Stiil. F^fatstoRegam Health Hollywood, Aug. 4. ' Eva- Tanguay, onetime vaudeville headilner, passed her 64th birth- day last Saturday in her home here; She has been Invalided for the past four years. Friends of the old days dropped into Xvtt. moc^est bungalow to encourage, her in. the fight against the.'malady 'Which has kept her bedrridden. . ' - \ . Old timers ,who trouped with her ' lay her cjiieerful disposition ' and determination to. win . back her health: < have; vitally sustained her through many- setbacks. Tryon, Roach Dissolve Hollywood, Aug. 4, Glenn Tryon checked oS the Hal Roach lot after ah amicable settle- ment of his producer contract He made three pictures, last of which was 'Nazti Nusiance.' Pact was dissolved by future im- certainty, due to Roach's entry into the Army. ■ BiH Hay Back to Reading Bible (Sponsored) on Radio • Hollywood, Aug. 4. ' I;i the early days of radio while Freeman Gosden and Charles Cor- rell were still 'Sam 'n' Henry' on the r^dio, Billy Hay had bis own program in the Chicago area, which consisted of his riding the Bible. Shortly after,, when Gosden and Correll became an tfvernight sen- sation with'Amos 'n' Andy, he closed the Book and went along with them as announcer, which was to last for nigh on to a dozen ^ears. This-week Hay was back at his Bible-reading, having' been dropped from 'A & A some weeks ago. ' Mu- tual-Don Lee netwbrk is lining up participating sponsorship . for the program, which is billed as 'Bill Hay Reads the Bible.' Locally it is sponsored by Forest Lawn cemetery, joining th« network Aug. 10. It goes across, the board. . nka Chase's Play, Pix, Lectures—and Radio Ilka . Chase is due east this week- end after completing a. picture for Paramount. Her radio series, 'Luncheon Date with Ilka Chase,' returns to NBC about' Sept.' 1 and she staris on a' lecture tour in mid- October. Her program will,air from various out-of-tpwn locations while she's on tour. She's also set for a summer stock appearance in 'Susan and God' this month at Princeton, N. J. There's also picture interest In her recent biog, 'Past Imperfect." In addition to her iParamount film, she also appeared in a picture at Warners earlier this summer. Mebbe He Was Scairt Joe Cooper Scholarship In Honor of S. R. Kent Lincoln, Aug. 4, ' The J. H. Cooper Foundation, owners' of the Lincoln, Stuart and Nebraska theatres here, has set up ' a $500 medicine scholarship at the . IJniversity of .Ifebraska in memory of the late Sidney -R. Kent, former president o£ ZOth Century-Fox. Kent got his business start as a ■ $5 a week delivery boy In Lincoln. The scholarship will .go to an out- . standing' student who wishes to com- plete further research in medicine. More Pay Jot Pic Workers Hollywood, Aug. 4.- Motion picture employees drew an average of $66.13 in weekly wages during June, 1942, compared . with $45.27 for the same period last year, according to California Divi- cion of Labor Statistics. Hourly t-ale of earnings jumped irom $1.29 in June of 1941 to $1.50 during the same month in the cur- rejit ye.ar. Not Like It Was HoUywood, Aug. 4. Lieut Burgess Meredith draws cnly Army pay to pltly the top role In 'Rear Gunner/ Picture Is one of the U. S. Army Army Air Corps defense shorts, 'directed by Bay Enright, Hollywood, Aug. 4. George Sanders was suspended by 20th-Fox for refusal to play one of th« top roles in "The Undying Mon- ster,'.'a Bryan Foy productiofi direct- ed by John Brahm. Actor declared be was overworked and needed a rest. ■ James Ellison took over the part slated for Sanders, and Bramwell Fletcher moved into the Ellison role. li wUl cost monev to defeat Germany, Japan and Italy. Our government caJis on you to help now. Buy war savings bonds or stamps today. Buy them evgry day if you can. But buv them on a regular basis. French Pic Exec Arrives in N. Y. Aboard Clipper By GEORGE FBOST Nazi blitz tactics on French mo- tion picture industry were re-eiri- phaslzed on Sunday by Alexander G. Pinciis, film executive who left his native New York in 1917 to .pro- duce pictures in the'Fi'ench Repub- lic, when he arrived at New- York's LaGuardia Field Marine Terminal aboard a transAtlantic Clipper. Pincus was a producer for th6 C. I. P. R. A. company, Paris, until Germany.-declared war against the United States. He ducked .the .Ges- tapo by less than the flick of. a camera crank and managed to hop across the occupied-area line to the town of Pau. • Hp returned here to oifer his services to the .United States government 'in any capacity, at all.' Mayor Gucs$\vho is skedded to leave his favorite airport this morn- ing (5) for the West Coast aboard an American Airliner, where he is expected to be among those watch- ing the premiere of Tales of Man- hattan.' Spyros P. Skouras, national prexy of the Greek 'War Relief Assn., showed up at LaGuardia Field Mon- day (3) to bid adieu to the Arch- bishop of ' the Greek . Orthodox Church, who flew off to Canada to bless three Swedish ships which, under a safe conduct, will tote re- lief supplies to Skouras' stricken countrymen. 'The week also saw Annabella and husband, l^rone Power, fly jn from the Coast. Power was enroute to New London, Conn., where he'll ob- tain background, etc., for his new 'Crash Dive.' Mrs. Power will while- away the two-week period with friends in Fairfield, Conn. ^1 ABBOTT and COSTELLO On National Releate Auguit '7 In "PARDON MY SARONG" A Mayfair Pr«duotlon—Universal Pictures Relaasa P"^, (l«n(qn)|l .W«ji«a«m«nt..(>f eOW^f^A..SHCR^lJ^(^ ,.. i,,,, Berliii-35 Years a Show Biz Asset By AdEIi GBEEN Show business -will ever be a succession of .peaks and-.valleys. This period marks the Irving Berlip, crescendo—and in a manner which transcends almost any othe^ current, show biz achievement or dis- tinction. Bis recognItI((n by all America as a great, living American must redound to the benefit of the amusement industry as a wholer., - No question that, from 'God Bless America' (with its more ttiib $100,000.yield to the Boy and Girl Scouts of America)'-to '^Is Is the Army,' the current smash soldier .show' (which may realise more than $2,000,000. for the Army Emergency Relief Tund),'Berlin?s signal contributions to his country constitute something wblclv ev,ery.tiody. In and out of show business, must salute And that's not couhtiiig his quarter-of-a-century ago soldier show, "Yip YIp Yaphank,' also an Army tieneflt. , - This week, of course, the spotlight on Berlin takes a more specific showmanship touch. It's Paramount'a week. The occasion is 'Holi* day Inn.' That's an Irving Berlin score to a Blng Crosby-Fred Astaire fllmusical, produced and directed by Mark -Sandrlch. The ad pages in this Issue tell the rest of it As a matter of calendar sequence it also marks Berlin's. 35th anni- versary as. an' American songwriter—today, the No. 1' songsmith— but the author of the occasion insisted that the BtMtlight be veered away from himseU. The kudos that come to the creative artist of a- hit picture, a play, song, or whatever it may be,'is OK for the record; but the sentimental ballyhoo, he' in/Hnructed Paramount, had to be sidestepped. Already plans had been undertaken to make the'Berlin- Paramount picture the'occasion if or « 35th anniversary salute—the same as when 20th-Fox sought to !tie in its 'Alexander's Ragtime Band,' of some seasons ago, with a 30tfa .anniversary tribute to the singing waiter who came up from Nlgget'Mike's In Chinatown to become a distinguished citizen of the- tand. Nonetheless, even in these momentous' times, each industry takes stock of itself and its contributions. When the history of the war effort, from the morale aspect, is written, certainly show business will tie spotlighted favorably and weU. And along with the stars who -wing to Alasl^tk V"^ the tropics; the satellites whs barnstorm for War Bonds; the entertainers who tour the camps with lavish- shows for soldier divertissement—along with all these must be re- corded the name of Berlin. THE BERLE-nVG POINT i By Milton Berle ♦ ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦^♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦«« ♦♦♦♦♦♦«♦> < ♦♦♦» «♦♦»♦«»«<«♦< * • Chicago; Aug. 4. Had a very successful week at the Oriental theatre. I never saw such crowds....the management couldn't print passes fast enough. Things aren't tough enough now, they're building a subway in front of the theatre; One iisher at the theatre got absent-minded... .he started to show the on-lookers at the new subway io. seats in the excavation. Jack (Baldy) Zero has a new racket. After -flnlshijig his five-minute stint with me in the theatre, he. runs out to the excavation and. starts shoveling dirt.. He's made $200 to date. (Quick,'Watson, the shovel!). What marvelous people in the audience. After one show I got 10 cur- tain calls....did you ever hear a curtain calling? (Eerie, isn't it?) Had quite a crowd in my dressing room all week....sold over 20 pounds of tuti-frultl halavah. Jerry Bergen came to see me. He has a new invention, a portable ladder that he hooks around yom: neck, climbs up and talks to you face to face. Jerry had a little trouble getting to the theatre.., .mice kept pulling him back into their .holes for a game of gin-rummy. i ' Jacques- Rehard and Jack Leonard, the 300-pound comedian,, came to See me, Renard has lost so much weight, when he stood next to Leonard they looked like a 'Before' and 'After' ad. Harry Rose dropped in. He told me that he would never again wear collars that fit snugly around the shoulders... .his new collars now fit around.the hips. I sure missed my mother on this trip. It's tough running out in the budience to laugh a gag up...-.and then jump back on the stage to tell the next one. Everything happens to 'me. 'While waiUng in the wings, a gopher came up to me and hummed $5, so he could get back to Holly- wood to eat my lawn. Lincoln Park grass didn't agree with him. _ A photographer came backstage to shoot a layout of me....when did Rip- ley start a magazine? I gave each one of the stagehands a tip....too bad the horse stopped at the half-way mark to file his income tax. I ran a swell party back- stage for my troupe. I handed out gifts with a lavish finger. To the acrobatic troupe I gave individual platinum meat balls"-.... .that they can wear or hock. To. Leonard Sues, that' fine' performer, I gave a 'mute* talk. To Ruth Clayton I gave something she always wanted an ar- rangement of 'Tangerine' with mink half notes. To the Ben Yost Vi- Kings I really overdid myself in the way of gifts. I gave each one of the boys brand new stage uniforms with marinated lapels.. '. .in case they play Grossinger's. I rushed over to rty hotel to pack and catch a train for. HoUywood, when I found a wire saying I should come to New York immediately for two air shows,, so I hopped a plane. -We passed over the Great Lakes. I looked and looked, but couldnt see Veronica. The plane must have'been qwned by the Esquire people, it was that fashionable. Jnstead of a safety belt, they had suspenders.... with cuffs. .• ' . / - . /!_ You should have seeii the' crowd of people waiting at the airport. When I got off they yelled and screamed... .for Betty Hutton, who was on the plane, too. I hopped into a very funny cab. I drove and the hackle «at ih the back counting his winnings at the track. At the end of the trip he got out, helped me out of my seat, gave me a tip and drtve off (I miist do that more often).' ' Checked into a hotel and the clerk seemed very happy to sec me. He said: 'Glad to have you. back again, now we can get back those missmg towels! (I only took one towel, but you should see the soap!) Parked my clothes in the room and went over to Lindy's. There have bfeen quite a few changes since I left a week ago now, herrings serve you'waltersi Broadway Rose came ov^r to my table and I could hardly recognize her....she bad her other head' amputated. Army Short of the Week Hollywood, Aug. 4. 'Pack Transportation* Is the War, Department short of the week under the auspices' of the Academy Re- search Council. Entire film is be- ing shot at Fort Bliss, Tex., with Capt Robert H. Fungay as War De- partment liaison officer. Actual shooting is done by Capi- tol Productions, with Nelson Gross as production manager, and Dan Keefe, director. Stage Door Canteen On Coast Nearii^ Reality Holl3rwood, Aug. 4. ■Various elements aiming to estab- lish a local Stage Door Canteen drew closer together when Bette Davis, representing the fUm players, went into a huddle with Jules C. Stein, prez of Music Corp., and agreed to cooperate with the union labor com- mittee headed by Carroll Hollister. Radie Harris, representing the American Th-'^re Wing, originators of the Stagj^ or Canteen In New York, Is in town- to confer.wlth Miss Davia-in-an ii^isory-vcapaoity<. > ^ •